The Shape of Theological Humanism
22
something about the aim and orientation of religious and moral existence. One keeps a humanist outlook truly only when it is given theological articulation, and, conjointly, the theological dimension of existence must always also be given humanistic expression.
Theological humanism as an outlook and orientation in life uses the distinctive claims and speculative and spiritual resources of a specific tradition in order Conclusion
to find points of contact with other people who share similar aspirations and convictions. While we happen to draw from the Christian tradition, we do not write only for Christians and we also hope and expect to find theo-logical humanists in other traditions. Our aim is to clarify how the religions
can enable people to live freely into a humane future once the internal complexity of tation. Some Christians will find this a betrayal of what is distinctively Christian. Many humanists will hardly see the relevance of theological claims any religious identity is acknowledged and open to interpre-
within our approach. Part of the argument of this book is to stave off charges of betrayal and irrelevance while holding fast to our main concern to present the aim and task of theological humanism.Current debate about religion and the human future tends to devolve
into a clash among religious particularists, secularists, those who hold their religious convictions humanely but still insist on being unique, and still others who seek some more speculative or spiritual idea of religious humanism. The debate is leading nowhere, and, in fact, it contributes to
the endangerment of life in the failure to provide an alternative perspec-tive on the forces, religious and otherwise, that are now rampant around the world. In order to change the debate, this essay presents theological humanism in a succinct and hopefully compelling form.
We turn next to the legacy of the Western humanistic imagination.